Rescue Team Chronicles: Facing the Music
by ThatOneWriterFromShef
Summary: Coming back 5 years too late from the meteor crisis, Bolt has to adjust to life as a Pokemon all over again, whilst dealing with the backlash of withholding certain details that Gardevoir laid out for him. Will it go as smoothly as he hopes? Probably not. My first foray into the other Mystery Dungeon game I love so much. Rated T! Potential third genre: Hurt/Comfort
1. Chapter 1

_It has been 5 years since two young heroes ventures up Sky Tower, and fought bravely against Rayquaza to convince him to destroy the star that threatened to destroy the world. It's also been 5 years since one of the heroes had completed his task, leaving the other alone to go back to the human world._

 _However. The lost hero is about to face the music, and the consequences of withholding the information Gardevoir laid out to him._

* * *

 **Air Continent**

 **Just outside Pokemon Square**

"Flare..."

"She's already been gone a day."

"The job description said she'd be gone a few days at least. She's a big girl, she can take care of herself."

"Ugh….fine."

A Vulpix and Riolu stand on the top of a hill, looking out into the snowy distance, waiting for their friend to return from a job. The Vulpix is looking out, a little bit sullenly at the horizon in front of her, whilst the Riolu leans against a nearby tree, arms crossed, a little bit of a half-sympathetic, half-annoyed look on his face.

The Riolu huffs, closing his eyes. "Flare. It's been like 5 years….you'd think she'd be over it by now, wouldn't you? She's a rational Eevee, as well as damn tough. She'll be fine."

"Some wounds take time to heal, Fang. And besides, she's like a little sister to me, just like _he_ was like a brother to you." The Vulpix, Flare, rounds on the Riolu, Fang. "And don't even try to deny it on me, I've seen you brooding, you emo."

His look just turns to plain annoyed. "Can you not with the 'emo' thing? I already get it enough from that Butterfree and Dugtrio Jr.. Besides...I'm pretty sure emo Pokemon don't use Aura Sphere."

Flare's worry subsides for a moment, and she holds back a laugh. "I dunno, Fang. Move name sounds pretty edgy to me."

"Shut up."

Silence holds the both of them, before they start to laugh.

"Look at us," Flare starts. "Arguing about how Grace feels, like we know what goes through her head." She walks over to where Fang leans, and lays in the snow, stretching. "I mean, you can't exactly read emotions yet, can you? I mean, that's something Lucario can do right?"

Fang looks at her funny. "I'm pretty sure Aura doesn't work that way. That's something the Ralts line does." He then tilts his head to the side. "And besides, I do have Aura, obviously, but….it's kinda limited."

Flare returns his look, with a slight smirk. "You sure you wanna stay like that? I won't judge you if you decide to change."

Fang simply shrugs. "Eh, I like how I am now. Besides," He grins back at her. "I like surprises."

Flare huffs out a small burst of fire. "You're weird."

"Back at ya."

Silence reigns for all but 10 seconds. The two partners look at each other sheepishly. Until Fang gives off a few laughs.

"I think this would be the moment where Bolt tells us to get a room."

Flare responds with a wry look.

"Followed by Grace scolding him. And then biting him on the tail." She winces slightly. "And not even a regular bite as well….a Bite attack."

Fang follows suit with the wince. "With how reputable Pikachu and their tails are," He begins. "I'm surprised she wasn't roasted to kingdom come with how often she did that. I bet that smarted."

Flare gives him a smirk, trying to hold in a laugh. "Coming from a fighting type?"

Fang grunts, his tail curling slightly. "It still damn hurts!"

This sends Flare into an unexpected giggling fit, rolling into her back, whilst all he can do is look on at her indignantly, rolling his eyes. Of course, he'd never admit he'd never admit how adorable she looks whilst doing that. She burns too much.

Curse his chivalry.

Her giggling fit calming down, she looks his way, a thought seemingly crossing her mind. His eyes meet hers, and he knows exactly what she's going to suggest.

"Can we go on a small job in a bit? I wanna keep my mind pre-occupied with something else as much as we possibly can."

Fang lets off a small chuckle, and grins back at her.

"I'll let you pick this time."

* * *

 **Air Continent  
Frosty Forest**

 **Later**

" _Hey..."_

"Ugghhh.."

" _C'mon, wake up already!"_

"5 more minutes…."

" _I'm glad you woke up!"_

" _Same here, being passed out's not the best feeling in the world..."_

"The Hell….?"

Jerking his eyes open, a Pikachu is met with an eye full of white.

Followed by a harsh coldness surrounding him.

"What the..I fall asleep at home, and I wake up in around 2 feet of snow. Pretty sure that's not usual." He pushes himself to his hind legs, staggers a little bit and lets his eyes focus, looking at his surroundings. "A snowy forest, huh? The forecast didn't say anything about a blanket of snow." He shakes himself free of snow, and checks himself over. "Let's see...paws, yellow and present, hind legs..." He looks down and cocks both legs up one at a time. "Ditto. Tail..." He looks behind him and wags his tail. "There you are!" He then narrows his eyes. "Waaaiiit…..paws? Hind legs? Tail? Yellow?!"

His next plan of action involves running around in circles on all four, shouting up a storm. A colourful storm.

He soon calms himself down, taking deep breaths.

"Alright, alright, you've been in this situation before...just think to yourself...focus….and relax..." His cheeks spark to life within seconds. "Right….let there be power. Iron Tail."

He focuses, and his lightning bolt shaped tail hardens. He grins, and leaps at a nearby rock, spinning around, and shattering it to pieces with the attack. "Beautiful. Quick Attack and the other good stuff should be good to go, but I'm not gonna run around looking like an idiot to test it out...already done that once today." Iron Tail powers down. "Alright, where am I…?" He looks around again. "Frosty Forest. Maybe? It'd be kinda nostalgic if it is." He stops and blinks then makes a face. "I'm talking to myself again."

Just then, behind him, a gaggle of Pokemon gather at the sight of a newcomer. Most importantly to them, not a native to Frosty Forest.

"An explorer!" A Snorunt barks. "We got an explorer!"

"Get him!" A Furret barks, before they, a Mightyena, a Lairon and a Nosepass charge at him.

"Yeah, this is definitely Frosty Forest." He grins, his cheeks spark wildly, and he hunches onto his hind legs. "Come get it!"

The Furret goes for a Headbutt, but the spry mouse leaps upwards, letting the Furret fall clumsily to the ground. He lands on Furret's back and he activates Quick Attack and boosts himself off, smacking Mightyena in the face, bouncing off, then doing the same to the Snorunt. Bouncing off of the Snow Hat, he rockets at Nosepass, and slams Iron Tail into the Rock type, sending him soaring through a nearby tree.

"Slick." The Pikachu compliments himself, making a three-point landing, cheeks sparking. Quite rightly so, as the Lairon is coming at him from the side. He grins, and sends a few volts of electricity through his Iron Tail, then twirls around, slamming the electrified Iron Tail into the Iron/Rock type's face, sending him flying from where he came.

For good measure, he charges up a Thunderbolt, and sends it after the flying Lairon, before powering down, and turning around, hearing the electrical explosion behind him. He shrugs to himself before looking over at the Nosepass trying to get up, glaring at him, before the tree that stopped his flight comes down on him.

"Eh." He shrugs, before hearing two voices either side of him. He sharply gasps, and looks from side to side, seeing Mightyena and Snorunt charging him both sides. He grunts, and leaps into the air at the last minute. Mightyena and Snorunt collide with each other as a result. Or more specifically, Mightyena ends up clamping his jaws on Snorunt in a bite attack, causing the ice type to yell in agony, before a Thunderbolt comes from above, giving them quite a shock and KO'ing them.

"Next time, you might wanna not voice your approaches." Right as he says this, he's nearly deafened, as the shock waves from a Hyper Voice sends him flying about 20 feet. "Aaah!" He manages to right himself, and lands legs first on a tree trunk, and he sees who the attacker was. The Furret from earlier. He winces, his ears flattening against his head briefly. "Oooww...gonna be hearing that in the morning." He jumps off the trunk and sparks his cheeks, glaring at the Furret, yet sporting a grin on his face.

The Furret only narrows her eyes. "My turn. **Ice Beam!** " She opens her mouth, and a freezing cold beam shoots out, aimed directly at her opponent. He yelps, and leaps out of the way, as the beam nearly hits him.

"T-that nearly hit me." He hits the ground running, charging at her in a Quick Attack, but she leaps up in a surprising burst of speed herself, and comes down, tail glowing, and smacks him away with Slam.

"Ngh!" He hits the ground, rolling a few times but rights himself. He sees another Ice Beam coming at him, and resorts to using Thunderbolt defensively to block it. With enough conviction, he breaks through, blasting with all his strength, but to his surprise, it hits a tree trunk, and she's not even there. "Was that a feint?!"

"Like it?" Before he knows what's hit him, the Furret comes out of nowhere and starts slashing him repeatedly with Fury Swipes, getting all 5 turns in, before her tail swats him away with another Slam attack.

"Oof!" He hits the floor, but doesn't manage to right himself this time. He skids along the floor on his belly, panting lightly, and nearly struggles to get up. He checks himself over. A few bruises, and quite a few scratch marks.

Nearly forgetting not to take his guard down, he focuses back on Furret...but grins at what he sees.

"Static. Nice."

Indeed, the Furret is struggling to move herself, small sparks of electricity coursing through her body in paralysis. "This is far from over...I still haven't taken any damage." She charges up another Ice Beam, and fires it off at the Pikachu. But he returns it in kind with another Thunderbolt, the two attacks clashing and making a small shockwave.

The two Pokemon moves fight each other for dominance, and it goes on for a full 15 seconds. That is before the Thunderbolt powers through the Ice Beam and strikes Furret, making her yell in agony before it peters out.

Dropping to his knees and using his paws for support, the Pikachu's pants get slightly heavier, as exhaustion starts to set in. "F-forgot….it's been a while."

Furret sizzles slightly, as her paralysis prevents her from making any sudden moves on the Pikachu. The Thunderbolt didn't help much either.

Both staring each other down, neither Pokemon move an inch.

That is until right behind Furret, the tree trunk that was struck earlier from the Thunderbolt gives out and the tree itself starts to fall right onto Furret.

Pikachu blanches. "Oh shit." He goes right into Quick Attack, bounding towards Furret and paying no mind to his injuries.

"What?" Furret asks in confusion to the Pikachu's reaction, before hearing the tree, and looking behind her, and crying out in pure terror.

That is until the Pikachu cancels Quick Attack, but tackles Furret out of the way with the momentum carrying him. The two land in the snow, the tree crashing to the ground unceremoniously behind them.

The Pikachu looks back, then at Furret, and laughs sheepishly. "T-that….could have been messy."

All Furret can do is stare at the mouse in wonder. "You saved me."

"Hm?" He looks at her and tilts his head to the side. "Yeaaaah?"

"But why?"

The Pikachu groans and slumps against the tree trunk. "Unlike Nosepass, if this tree landed on you, it'd have been rather messy….plus it was bigger than the one that beaned Nosepass."

"But….we attacked you, and we were battling." Furret doesn't shift the look on her face. "You could have left me there, that'd have been an easy win for you!"

"Uh?" He makes a face and looks over at her. "Girl, I like a fight as much as the next guy, but not if it results in a death. The Hell do they teach you in this forest? Survival of the fittest?" Her expression doesn't shift again, and he looks away, facepawing. "Please don't answer that, that was a stupid question." He then breaks into a laugh. "Still! If Static wasn't a thing, you'd have beaten me easily."

The Furret's expression turning indignant, she huffs. "I could have still won! Static doesn't mean I'm out of the fight completely, y'know!"

"Well, yeah, if your fighting style didn't rely much on your speed!"

The Furret grumbles to herself. "Yeah yeah…." Her expression softens into a smile. "Thanks."

The Pikachu smiles back. "No problem. That was a great start back. You got a name?"

"Uhh..." She reaches up and rubs the back of her head. "Pokemon around here called me Fluffy...but I don't like it much."

The Pikachu shrugs. "Eh...I'll think of something. Though I'll have to call you Fluffy for now, to tell you apart from the others."

"Oh.." She looks down a bit, before contorting her face in confusion. "Wait….think of something?"

"Well….you seem alright. So why not accompany me out of here? Do something a bit better than loiter around a cold forest?"

Fluffy looks on in surprise. "Well….I-I suppose I could, but….I've been in this forest a long while, so it could take some time to adjust…." She blinks a few times before tilting her head at him. "I told you my name...what's yours?"

"Oh yeah.." He puts on a big, toothy grin. "Bolt!"

* * *

 **A minute earlier**

"Why Frosty Forest again? If anything, it's even worse this time of year.." Fang complains, wearing a custom made jacket along with a scarf.

"Mm. Because." Flare smirks back at him, completely fine.

"You fire types….and you didn't even pick a job, we just came out here because you wanted to."

"I like to cut loose every once in a while. Ice types are easy pickings to me."

"Told you you're weird."

"You love reminding me too much."

"Cause it's true."

"You could have just come here to take out ice types by yourself, why'd you drag me along?" Fang grumbles.

"Cause you're my partner, of course! That and the jacket and scarf you wear in this weather make you look adorable." Flare responds shamelessly.

Fang's face heats up at what she says and he rolls his eyes. "And Piloswine?"

Flare's face turns a little sheepish. "And Piloswine."

The Riolu grins at her. "Those darn Piloswine."

"Oh hush."

Their banter is silenced by the sight, and sound of an electrical explosion in the distance, startling them both.

"Uhh.." Fang voices.

"We're checking that out aren't we?" Flare asks quietly.

"Yeah, we're checking that out."

The two run on ahead, the thoughts of coldness sent to the back of Fang's mind.

* * *

 **Back in the present**

The Riolu and the Vulpix behold the collateral damage from the battle that has just taken place.

"Whoever was fighting here, it must have been intense." Flare comments.

"Must have been a struggle. You definitely don't get electric types around here, so the electric type must have been defending himself from the wilds here." Fang adds before turning to Flare. "See, that might have been a potential job on the list, but someone decided to skip out on the Pelipper Post Office entirely!"

Flare rolls her eyes. "Oh shush. If they have any money to give, they'll do it anyway if they want to."

"You got me there.." Fang concedes before walking onwards, and past a fallen tree, to where a Pikachu and a Furret sit. The two have silenced upon hearing Fang and Flare talking, and Fang looks upon the two. "Uhm….did I interrupt anything?" He asks, and the two shake their head. "Good..." Fang's focus falls on the Pikachu, and certain aspects draw his attention. A tuft of hair on his head, and a blue scarf around his neck. "What..no way. Flare!"

"What?" Flare answers, as she rounds the corner of the trunk, and lays eyes on the Pikachu. Her throat catches, as she recognises him instantly. "Bolt." She croaks out.

Bolt slowly staggers to his hind legs, recognition flashing in his own eyes. "Whoa….Team BlazingAura...you guys…?"

Fang nods, smirking a little bit at the use of their name. "The one and only."

Flare gives Fang a dirty look before stepping forward. "You two okay?"

Bolt nods. "I'm fine...few bruises and some scratches, nothing too serious...I think." He motions to the Furret. "Fluffy, you good yourself?"

The Furret nods, stricken with paralysis still. "Kinda stiff...you guys got any Cheri Berries?"

Flare nods silently, pulling a Cheri Berry from their Treasure Bag, and giving it to Fluffy, who digs in, curing her paralysis instantly.

"You guys got an Oran Berry?" Bolt asks sheepishly.

Flare shakes her head. "All out, Bolt. Sitrus Berries too." She gives him a sheepish look back. "Sorry."

"No harm done. I can move till we get back to the Square..." He gives them a look. "You guys do still live around there right?"

"Yeah." Fang nods. "We're still there. Actually, we oughta just.." He pulls his team badge out of his scarf, which starts to glow. "It'll be quicker getting back this way."

Bolt laughs a little bit. "Well duh. That's always been the case."

With a bright flash of light, all four Pokemon in the vicinity warp out of the forest.

* * *

 **So I recently found the joys of Lagomorph Shipping, thanks in no small part to VGS2 and ravangal (huge shout out to those two, their content is amazing!) but I wanna get this story out there before I think about any Lagomorph stories come about. And I do have a Mystery Dungeon story brewing for that, but that's for another time!**

 **And yes, The Return/Quest is still a thing, but there's still things I need to sort for that. So sit tight, followers!**

 **For now, stay amazing readers!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Evening**

 **Rescue Team Base**

 **Outside Pokemon Square**

"What do we do with him?"

"What do you mean 'What do we do with him', Fang? He's our friend, we're not just gonna turf him out!"

"I know, I know that, it's just….5 years, then he shows up out of nowhere, with not even his own bearing."

"And that's why we keep him with us until he can adjust again."

The two Pokemon are currently in the Pikachu head base that was established that 5 years ago. Since then, it's seen a few additions, such as additional rooms for sleeping quarters, and the main room that used to be used for sleeping in, was turned into something akin to a meeting room. They also sit and eat in there when they have the time to.

It's evening now, and Bolt is with Fluffy in Pokemon Square, getting a Checkup at Nurse Chansey's Veterinary.

"When does Grace get back?" Fang asks, walking to a small desk to sort through fulfilled job requests. Flare's head snaps up at the question.

"Ohhhh yeah. That could be a problem." She starts slowly pacing back and forth, leaving the room silent for 30 seconds before shaking her head. "I doubt she'll be back tonight at least. She's with Wigglytuff's Guild helping with a relief effort. Remember, that place was hit most with all the time crisis stuff."

Fang sighs and holds his head in his paw. "That's Grace all over. Taking on all sorts of jobs, and missions, all over the place. Anything to keep her mind off of him."

"And now he's _back._ " Flare stresses. "I'm kind of scared right now."

Fang gives his partner a funny look. "Why?"

She looks back at him, concerned. "I don't know how stuff's gonna go down when Grace gets home. How she'll react when she sees him."

"When I see who?" A tired voice warbles from the doorway.

The two freeze, their blood running cold, before they turn to the main door to see a certain Eevee trudging in, looking completely wired.

"Uh...uhhh..." Fang tries to get some words out. Any words. But none come out.

"Your brother!" Flare blurts out, before immediately regretting it.

"Uh…?" Grace stops and gives Flare an exhausted, but equally curious look.

Fang, to put it quite simply, just stands there for a few moments, eyes wide like a Deerling in headlights, staring at his partner, before he shakes his head, snapping out of it.

"Yeah, your brother!" He pipes up. "We got a letter while you were away! We don't know where it's gone, cause y'know, windy winter weather, might've blown it out of the door, but some guy wrote, claiming he's your long lost brother!...Or some junk."

Grace blinks dumbly at Fang like he'd said something stupid.

Which, to be honest, he kind of did.

"Y-y'know what? I just don't care tonight...I'll deal with whatever it is t'morrow.." She lets off a small yawn, smacking her lips just after, then walks to the door to her room. "G'night…."

"Good night, Grace.." The other two chime back, holding their silence until her door clicks shut. Flare rounds on Fang instantly. "Y'know, you just made it ten times worse, right?!"

"Relax, Flare." Fang responds, trying to calm both her, and himself down. "In the morning, we'll just deny and say she might have heard things from exhaustion."

Flare just facepaws with a sigh, and an exasperated look on her face. "You're unbelievable..." She glares at him. "Alright then, Fang, here's a way to fix it." She points at the door. "Go and find Bolt, and tell him that it'd be best to check into the nearest inn until tomorrow."

Fang's eyes widen. "What? What happened to not turfing him out?!"

"That was before Grace got back. Y'know, when we had time to figure out what to do?!" She grabs a pouch of Poke before giving it to him. "Here. He's probably broke right now considering he just came back. And before you ask, tell him we've got Pokemon taking up the guest rooms already."

Fang nods and just walks to the door, before stopping briefly, not even looking at his partner. "What's the point anyway?"

"You know why."

"..."

"You gonna be alright finding him?"

"My aura abilities have improved, even if they _are_ limited. I'll be fine."

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Fang vacates the base, and heads into the Square.

Flare watches him go, and shakes her head, feeling slightly guilty for having to do this. Though, if she knows Fang, even if he can be an idiot, he knows her reasoning.

She just hopes that Fang won't mess it up.

" _Alright, Fang. Just take him to one side, talk it over with him, and check him into a motel. Plain and simple. No chance to mess that up, right?"_

Fang is lost in his thoughts as he continues down the path to the Square, and sees it in his field of view.

" _One thing's for sure. It's certainly grown in the last few years. A proper hospital, an arena, an inn. Definitely turning out to be a great hub for Pokemon to come by on their travels."_

He stops in his tracks for one moment, taking a deep breath. Before punching a tree he happened to be walking past. _"What are you doing…? Just gonna show up, tell him he can't come home right now, give him money and leave?"_ He shakes his head and continues walking with a new goal. _"He deserves a proper talk."_

It isn't long before he reaches the Square. His aura feelers are already up and searching for the Pikachu. In truth, he isn't quite at the level of a Lucario, but he'd like to think he's got the hang of Pokemon detection….well Pokemon he's attuned his aura to.

" _There!"_

Before anyone in the square can so much as greet the guy, he takes off in the direction his aura feelers have detected. And he's gonna get there before that target decides it wants to move.

And before long, where does his aura take him?

Fab Furfrou's Salon.

"How the Hell did Bolt end up here?" He looks up at the sign, absolutely perplexed.

Yep.

This is definitely going to be one of _those_ days.

* * *

"I mean, to be fair, Krabbys like to sit on beaches in the sunset and blow Bubbles to create a nice atmosphere at the end of the day right? They didn't want this Crawdaunt to join in, because they weren't sure he know exactly what the crack was. What did he do? Ignored them completely and unleashed a Bubble **Beam** into the air, and not your standard Bubble."

"Oh my!" Angel, one of the Furfrou (heart trim) that was tending to him exclaims. "What happened after?"

"Was anyone hurt?" Jewel (diamond trim), her colleague adds.

"Well..."

"Bolt!" The door to the salon bursts open, and Fang stands there, giving Bolt a dirty look. "Of all the places to find you? I thought you were at the hospital!"

The Pikachu looks back at the Riolu and tilts his head. "They gave me a few Sitrus Berries and said to walk it off, and these two lovely ladies have just opened this salon today! So I thought I'd treat myself since I've been away for a while, and all treatments and everything are free today only! Isn't that right?"

"Oh, absolutely!" Angel nods excitedly. "It's a tradition for every Fab Furfrou branch opened! It was the case for Post Town, and for Lively Town!"

"Is it a family owned chain?" Bolt asks, curious.

"Oh yes! Our sisters are currently working on getting permission in Treasure Town!" Jewel chirps.

"I'm pretty sure a salon's the least of the Grass Continent's worries right now, considering they're dealing with the aftermath of the Time Crisis.." Fang mutters, rolling his eyes.

"And that's why we want to get one opened there as soon as we possibly can! Everyone's probably shaken up a little right now, so they need a little TLC to help them relax~!" Angel hums, giving Bolt's fur a brush.

"Aaaah...that feels nice….c'mon, Fang, hop on a chair and let them work their magic."

Fang's glare turns to a slightly startled and sheepish look, accompanied by a pink-ish blush. "Oh! Uh...I'm not exactly one for this kind of treatment…"

"C'mon, man, it's free, and it's not like it'll hurt you or anything like that." Bolt looks at his friend with a confused expression. "What're you afraid of?"

Fang just starts backing away to the door. "I-I'll just meet you at the MooMoo Milk Bar when you're fin-"

"You weren't exactly complaining when Flare took care of you and licked your fur tidy that one time."

Angel and Jewel give each other giddy smiles. "Ooooooooh~!"

Fang's face brightens redder than a Tomato Berry. "T-that was nothing, my fur just looked messy!"

Bolt turns back to the mirror and smirks. "Exactly, so what's different about this?"

Angel circles around Fang, inspecting his fur. "Hmmm, you do look like you haven't groomed yourself in a while. There's knots I can see clear as day. No self respecting explorer can continue going around like that!"

"Angel, your brush!" Jewel calls to her colleague, and Fang just facepaws, groaning.

"Fine, I'll bite.."

"Huzzah!" Both Furfrou exclaim, whilst Bolt laughs in the background, making Fang instantly regret his decision.

* * *

An hour later, the two Pokemon vacate the salon, thanking the ladies for their services. "Wow. No wonder it's been so successful even with the 'free first day' deal. I feel fresh as a freakin' daisy." Bolt croons, stretching his arms. "And check you out, Fang, your fur looks all shiny! Flare's gonna be all over you when we get back."

Fang just walks onwards, face still slightly pink, and sort of blank.

"Still not used to Pokemon that aren't Flare touching you?"

"Shut up..."

"C'mon, though, you feel better after that right?"

"...Yes."

"Get in!"

"Please be quiet!" Fang rounds on his rodent friend. "Look! Yes, I'm glad I stayed in the salon, and yes, I feel better! But you can't go back to the base."

Bolt's face dulls down a bit. "Uh…?"

"Not yet….we've got guests in the spare rooms, and there ain't no way Flare would let you have the couch."

"What about Grace?"

Fang hesitates before shaking his head. "She can't weigh in yet. She's at the Grass Continent, helping with relief efforts after the Time Crisis."

"Oh..." Bolt looks down at his paws, blinking.

"Trust me, if there were any way we could fit you in, we'd have you back in a heartbeat. Well, me and Grace would anyway."

Bolt looks sideways at Fang, an eyebrow raised. "What about Flare?"

Fang sighs, as he opens the door to the MooMoo Milk Bar, the two walking in, and out of the cold. "She's...having trouble remembering where she stands with you right now."

"Huh? I thought me and her were cool before?"

Fang looks back at his friend sadly. "Go grab a booth. I'll get us a milk each and we'll talk more."

"Huh….alright..." Bolt stumbles a bit before walking off nearby, and sitting in a seat. _"Flare...doesn't know where me and her stand? What happened?"_

A minute later, Fang sits down on the seat opposite Bolt, and puts his drink down in front of him. "Here."

Bolt nods a little numbly. "Thanks.." He takes a sip of his milk, then looks at his friend. "So what's the deal?"

Fang sighs. "A lot changes in 5 years, you know that, don't you?"

Bolt nods. "Yeaaaah, that's life. Why?"

"Well, for the first year or so after you left, Grace was always adamant you'd come back. Never gave up hope. You'd never let her down before, so why would you start now, huh?"

"Oh.." Bolt knows in the pit of his stomach where this is going.

"Going on another year or two though, something was becoming very clear."

"Go on?" Bolt presses, taking another swig of milk.

"It's...almost as if she's trying to get rid of her memories of you."

Bolt almost chokes on his milk, but swallows it down. "W-what?!" His voices raises a little too much, and almost all of the bar goes quiet and looks at the mouse in annoyance, something he notices quickly, and he coughs awkwardly. "Sorry, I'll just...be quiet now. Carry on." He shrinks down a bit, clearing his throat.

Fang makes a face before continuing. "Some nights, she'd just go out and venture, I mean sure, she's an explorer at heart, but...other nights, we'd hear her in her room whispering to herself. 'He's not coming back' she'd say over and over. Sometimes it resulted in us not getting any sleep."

'He's not coming back' rings through Bolt's mind, and a look of guilt flashes in his eyes, before he furrows his brow. "If you guys didn't get much sleep, why didn't you do anything about it?"

"In her mental state at the time, it wouldn't have helped."

"Didn't you used to say 'Honesty is the best policy'? What happened to that?"

Fang sighs and puts a paw to his temple. "When a situation is this delicate, sometimes you have to put aside your principals. In this case, Grace needed to figure this out on her own."

"Grace _needed_ someone to help her, and you two were leaving her to stew, that SH-" He nearly slams his paws on the table and raises his voice again, but he collects himself, and groans. "Okay, what happened after?"

Seemingly ignoring the almost-outburst, Fang nods. "Nowadays? It's as if you barely existed to her."

* * *

 **I know, I know, I'm horrible at updating, and I apologise, I had IRL issues to sort before I could continue and finish this chapter!**

 **So yeah...this is a thing. Poor Bolt. I'm horrible to these characters I swear.**


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